Luke's Blog

A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left.
Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Another new school in Hackney

In the heart of the council ward I represent a fantastic new mixed, non-denominational, comprehensive secondary school is being built, replacing the failing Homerton College and bringing hope and opportunity to kids from one of the most deprived areas in the UK. Dave Hill has a picture of the new academy: http://davehill.typepad.com/claptonian/2009/05/another-blue-academy.html

Monday, May 25, 2009

Backing AJ on fair votes

When I first got involved in Labour politics my great passion - critics might say obsession - was the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform - the fight for a fair, proportional voting system where a vote in safe Hackney or Tory Canterbury has as much influence on the election result as one in a marginal seat.

Sorry to upset my many anti-electoral reform allies on other issues, but we need a final Great Reform Act in this country to give control of Parliament to the people. Labour can’t fight for equality without fighting for every vote to have an equal value.

Labour’s election victory in a by-election for the Irwell Riverside ward of Salford City Council has a deeper significance than most. After ten days of hard pounding over expenses, you might think that Labour’s vote would collapse, or that the BNP or Tories might capitalise. Labour’s Matt Mold won 606 votes to the Lib Dem’s 293. The BNP came third with 276. The Tories limped in fourth, just ahead of the Greens and UKIP. So there was no surge in the BNP, or in other fringe parties. The Tories failed to make any headway whatsoever, their consistent position in the northern cities.

Labour won because Labour voters came out and voted Labour. Hazel Blears was at the heart of the campaign, leading the many young activists she has nurtured and encouraged in her local party. Matt Mold, the candidate, is 27 years old. Hazel showed characteristic courage and campaigning zeal, despite discouraging national newspaper headlines. And she proved that her local party is right behind her. As I’ve always said, local Labour campaigning works, and what local people do in real elections often stands in defiance to the predictions of London-based pundits and commentators.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

A Call to Arms

I understand a lot of Labour activists are reluctant to canvass for the June 4 elections because they feel demoralised by the expenses scandal and are worried they might get a bad response on the doorstep.

Unfortunately that kind of attitude creates a self-fulfilling prophesy of defeat. You get out of an election what you put in, so if we do nothing we will get roundly thrashed and good MEPs and councillors who are nothing to do with the current crisis will lose their seats - and we'll end up with BNP MEPs.

Now if I wasn't in hospital and could walk I'd be out there campaigning to lead by example. But this time round I can't.

So I want you to do it for me. Think of it as a "get well soon gesture". If you are a Labour activist who was going to sit out this election please get out there and do the canvassing I want to do but am too sick to.

You'll make an ill man feel better and you might even help Labour pull off an against the odds win.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Thoughts from my sick bed

I guess my mood isn't lifted by being six weeks into a four month hospital stay and facing the prospect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

But even taking that out of the equation, I haven't felt this depressed about the prospects for Labour since the aftermath of the 1992 defeat.

As it stands we are heading for reduction to a rump of 150-ishMPs and at least a decade in opposition. But if the expenses scandal is not addressed firmly then we could see a collapse of the party system in the way that engulfed Italy in the 1990s.

I'm shocked by the level of venality exposed this week and depressed that people I thought were selflessly motivated by public service have been casually using public money to secretly give themselves lifestyles far in excess of their published salaries.

The Labour Party in the shape of the NEC needs to move decisively to empower local party members to decide whether MPs implicated in the scandal are fit to represent Labour as candidates. A process of re- or where members want them de-selections is the only way to demonstrate that Labour is a movement owned by its mass membership and that our MPs are accountable for their actions.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Less Tax on Beer under Labour

In last night’s debate on the Finance Bill John Redwood MP produced a lot of hot air on behalf of the Tories in support of a Lib Dem motion to postpone any rises in alcohol duty until an assessment of the impact on industry had been completed. He even had the bare faced cheek to suggest that the latest increases could be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” for the pub trade.

John Spellar MP has obtained figures from the House of Commons Library which show that a lower percentage of the cost of a pint of beer bought in a pub goes on tax now than it did during the Thatcherite years harked back to by John Redwood and the Conservative Party.

About Me

Labour Party activist since 1988 - firmly on the moderate wing of the party. Member of Labour’s NEC 2010-2012. National Secretary of Labour Students 1995-6. Parliamentary candidate for Aldershot (2001) and Castle Point (2005). Hackney Councillor (Chatham Ward) 2002-2014, Labour Group Chief Whip 2002-09, Chair of Health Scrutiny 2010-2014. Supporter of Europe, NATO/nuclear deterrence, Israel, electoral reform. Guardian reader. Dad. Oxford resident. Unite union member. Employment history as a Labour Party Organiser, Local Government Political Assistant, Director at a Public Affairs company. All views expressed in a personal capacity. The rest will become evident from reading the blog.